Wednesday, April 20, 2005

A rocket in your garage

There's always some wise guy, who in a conversation about the future, refuses to admit that it will live up to expectations until we all have flying cars.

That will be the day.

Imagine the mess trying to keep track of all the traffic. Where would you take off from? Where would you land? Whose house would you damage if you made a mistake with all of those complicated navigational devices?

Picture flying along, and all of a sudden, you have a mechanical failure. You can't just pull over to the side. Chances are you are going to fall like a comet.

Or will you? Maybe the future isn't so far away. Maybe that wise guy was right.

CBS is reporting on a new technology that would make it much safer for people to navigate the airways in their own personal flying machines. Called Highways in the Sky, it would simplify cockpits tremendously, and make the navigational decisions for flyers. Possibly millions of flyers. Imagine being able to go 400 miles an hour, straight as the, er, car, flies.